© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
Former F1 team manager Peter Windsor says Lewis Hamilton has handled suddenly being in a slower car “incredibly well” and has “driven well”.
After years of dominance, Mercedes dropped down in the F1 pecking order in 2022, when new regulations were introduced.
Obviously this also means that, after years at the top of Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton was suddenly unable to fight for the championship.
This caused a lot of his detractors to start talking about his ‘drop in form’, even saying he is making more mistakes.
Former Ferrari and Williams team manager Peter Windsor says this couldn’t be farther from the truth.
“It’s not so much a slower car,” Windsor explained on his YouTube channel.
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“I think it’s more that Lewis hasn’t spent much of his Formula 1 career racing in the midfield because he’s always been in a pretty competitive car week in, week out, race in, race out.
“What a shock from where he was at the back end of ’21 to where he then was in ’22, and he was racing with the Kevin Magnussens and Alex Albons and Yuki Tsunodas, and doing a pretty good job.
“I’ve always said I’m astonished at how good a job he’s doing bearing in mind how much road dust he’s got on him going back to 2007, for Pete’s sake.
“If anybody was going to find it a tough ask it was going to be Lewis, but I think he’s actually handled it incredibly well, driven well.
“Has he made more mistakes on his own in a slower car? I don’t think he has, has he? He had a spin in the wet [in qualifying at Silverstone] but recovered very well.
“I wouldn’t have said he’s making more errors. He made a few errors on Fridays even when he was in a quick car, often hit things, a bit like Charles [Leclerc].
“Max does set a new standard but, then again, Max is in this incredible situation where he’s got such a good team around him – good car, people that he loves, they love him, everything’s harmonious, no team-mate to worry about.
“It’s just like [watching] this great racing driver become even greater because he’s got everything perfectly around him anyway.
“All credit to him – it’s not detracting from him in any way – whereas Lewis has had ups and downs: [Fernando] Alonso at McLaren and then Nico [Rosberg], he wanted to keep Valtteri [Bottas] and then Abu Dhabi ’21, ’22.
“It’s been a bit more fractious,” the Briton concluded.
